Just how comparable is the British Conservative Party to the American Republican Party?

Great question. I don’t have the answer but I was wondering the same thing. My impression is that they are socially more similar to the Democrats in terms of most values and not being religious dogmatists but fiscally more similar to Republicans in terms of favoring the wealthy and cutting entitlement programs.

I have read a lot of comments from Americans who were like “Haha, finally the time of socialism in britain is over!”.
After reading the British Conservatives policies on their website, I am quite certain that those people would deride them as ‘socialists’ if they knew their stances.

Certainly a lot of the progress made toward socialism and the welfare state was derailed by the Thatcherites (denationalising of industries, weakening of the trade unions, cutting back on subsidised education, etc.), but Britain did remain more socialistic than the US has ever been. I do think there will be an eroding of social programs, however.

I always figured that Europe in general was so far Left that even the rightest of philosophies would smell centrist to an American.

@Nullo is right, in a way.

I, and most of the people I know, think American politics is dominated by wingnuts.

I’d suggest that even “communist Hitler” Obama is to the right of the British Tories.

@the100thmonkey We never went anywhere, it’s all of you that left. If anybody’s extreme, it’s the liberals.

@Nullo
Oh yes you did. Just remember that Nixon’s intended healthcare reform plan went further than what Obama managed to pass. America has drifted so far to the right that even, according to Republicans, the “radical leftist” Democrats are considered conservatives in the more moderate world.

The U.K. is generally left of the U.S. JFK once quipped to Harold Wilson that he was lucky that his (Wilson’s) lunatic fringe was on his left. Kennedy, of course, had the Birchers to deal with.

This being said, the Conservative party in Britain occupies the same general space in their political spectrum as the Republicans do here, but their society in general is different enough from ours that you can’t make a direct comparison. The structure of their government is greatly different from ours as well. The new government there could, for example, dissolve at any time and may well do so if the coalition between the Tories and the LDs falls apart (as it’s expected to). Not having predictable terms and election cycles for politicians gives the country a very different political landscape.

@Nullo – Too many people fall victim to simplistic clichés. All of Europe is so far Left in the same way as all Americans wear cowboy boots and eat at McDonald’s every day.

Well…. modern conservatives arent rabid in the way that republicans are.

@mattbrowne I said “Europe in general,” not “all of Europe.” I’ve played this game long enough to know to avoid categorical statements unless I’ve got a really good reason.

@ragingloli I was talking about conservatives, not Republicans.

@Nullo – Thanks :-)